


The Carmafia

by i_didnt_do_it_you_dimwits



Series: The Carmafia [1]
Category: Carmilla - Fandom
Genre: Carmafia, Carmilla - Freeform, F/F, F/M, Other, gangster au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-11
Updated: 2015-10-20
Packaged: 2018-03-11 22:10:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3334625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_didnt_do_it_you_dimwits/pseuds/i_didnt_do_it_you_dimwits
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An alternate universe in which Carmilla Karnstein is a gang member and Laura happens to be her next victim.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Bike Safety

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura almost gets run over by the city's most feared gang member.

It had been a long night. Laura was walking home from her job at the bakery, feeling tired. There had been many customers that night who apparently didn’t know what manners were. Is it a full moon or something?

The cobblestone backstreets of the town made it harder for her tired legs to walk, all that was keeping her going was the new episode of Doctor Who that aired that night. She had to work a late shift, so she missed it, but was hoping she could catch the midnight showing.

Her backpack weighing down on her didn’t help her lessening mental and physical stamina. She perked up when she remembered that her boss let her take a few cookies from the bakery.

Laura kept walking as she swung her backpack around and started rummaging through it.

She kept walking as she came to a four way intersection. She stopped and looked up at the lit up red hand across the street that quickly turned to a stick-figure walking. She trudged foreword, looking back in her bag. She made it halfway across when she heard a motorcycle barreling down the street. She looked up and to her right where she saw a single light coming rapidly at her.

"Get out of the way!" Yelled the biker. Laura ran across and tripped on the edge of the sidewalk, spilling the contents of her bag out on the concrete. The biker swerved and stopped in the middle of the intersection, turned the bike, and slowly rode it next to where Laura had fallen.

"Hey! Watch where you’re going!" Laura yelled to the driver. The woman covered in leather and wearing big combat boots got off her bike and rushed over, bending down to pin Laura on the ground, her helmet-covered head dangling over Laura.

"Why didn’t you get out of my fucking way? You idiot!" The woman demanded. Her grip on Laura’s shoulders was tightening and Laura started to get scared.

"Get off me! Who are you anyways?!" The woman stood up and removed her helmet to reveal a face with a chiseled jawline and wavy black hair. Laura gasped. That face was all too familiar. The person who had just almost ran her over was the gang member Carmilla.

Laura’s face turned red and she started hyperventilating. She scrambled to get to her feet and run. She knew Carmilla was bad news. She’s wanted for many crimes around this city. She’s done things from stealing a candy bar in a store to actually destroying the store with her other gang members. One time, she led a group of her followers into a coup d’etas of the mayor’s office. Yes, the town was run by Carmilla for a week. The mayor vanished and there were kids lose everywhere! The police eventually got them out of the mayor’s office to find food wrappers and packets of blood everywhere. That was definitely one of the town’s weirdest weeks…

But right now, Laura was scrambling to her feet and taking off. She heard footsteps catching up to her as she ran. Laura turned her head to see how close the gang leader was and Laura was caught by surprise. Carmilla was gaining fast, at mystical-vampiric speeds Carmilla jumped and tackled Laura, pinning her on the ground with her hands on Laura’s shoulders, sitting on her stomach.

"Oh, you’re gonna pay, spaz! " yelled Carmilla as she wound up her hand. Laura gasped and ducked to the right as Carmilla threw a left punch, and same as she swung to the right. Laura was getting worried, what would happen if she lost this fight? This was a bad time to forget her Krav Maga training.

Laura used her legs to grab Carmilla and get some leverage, “OHHHAAWWW!” Yelled Carmilla as she was thrown over Laura’s head onto the sidewalk. Laura got up and went to kick her leather-wearing ass when Carmilla spun around on the balls of her feet and sprang at Laura’s legs, very cat-like.

Carmilla grabbed the collar of Laura’s work shirt and picked her up off the ground, Carmilla was surprisingly strong, and with that she pushed Laura against the brick building next to them.

"Help!" Screamed Laura, "It’s Carmilla! Help! How is this fair? I was just walking home to watch the new Doctor Who episode?"

"That’s just the way the world works, sweetie…" Carmilla replied before delivering an uppercut and knocking Laura out.

~~~~~~~

Laura’s sight was starting to come back. She had been hearing everything, seeing some things, but barely able to move. She remembers riding a motorcycle, she was guessing with Carmilla, to an alleyway where she was thrown on a chair and tied up.

As Laura’s vision came into the clear, she could see that she was under a street light, in a foldable chair with thick ropes tied around her arms behind her and her mid-section. She started hearing laughter in the distance, “Who’s there?” She tried to ask, but she was stopped by a rag around her mouth.

Many forms started walking towards her, she could make out many tall, broody men, probably around 15 to 20 of them total. Then, the sea of men in all black, holding guns and crowbars, parted down the middle to reveal a tinier figure. She walked forward and took one of the crowbars from the men. As she came into the light, Laura recognized the amount of leather on this girl and saw that it was Carmilla.

Thoughts started racing through Laura’s head. Will I make it out alive? Have they already stolen my purse? Will I ever make it to my dad’s for Christmas this year? What happens to the Doctor tonight? All Laura could do was stare into Carmilla’s sharp yellow eyes as she snickered.

"Hey, boys… Looks like we got ourselves a fighter…" Deep laughs came from all around Laura. She looked but couldn’t see anyone. "Who wants first shot at her?" The men around her gave high fives and started yelling about who was first. Carmilla looked around like a ring leader at a circus.

"Well too bad, because this cupcake is all mine." She said as she leaned in closer, putting the crowbar up to Laura’s face. A wave of complaints and sighs erupted from the crowd, "Unless one of you wants to be in this chair, I suggest you leave, NOW!" Yelled Carmilla spinning on her heels. The men skulked away as she turned to look at the red-faced doll sitting in the chair before her.

"Well look at you… A master at Krav Maga, carrier of bear-spray in a town where, there are no bears," Carmilla inquired as she circled Laura like a panther around its prey, " and quite a clumsy walker… Do you ever look left and right before you cross the road? You poor girl… " she said with a sarcastic face. "Oh yeah, you can’t talk, don’t bother screaming, we’re far enough away from anything so no one can hear you." Carmilla untied the cloth around Laura’s mouth as Laura gasped for air.

"This was a bad idea on your part!"

"Oh yeah, why?"

"My dad is a cop and once he finds out where I am, you’re gonna be sorr-"

"Um, we already took care of that…" Interrupted Carmilla, "Your phones disabled and we already took off your emergency-phone-watch, thingy…" Laura felt her wrist, to find that they definitely were bound in ropes, but there was no watch. It was hopeless. Carmilla got closer, so their noses were almost touching, and put a hand on Laura’s leg.

“Aww, naive, provincial girl… Entirely too tightly wound… I could just eat you alive…” Laura took this as a threat and pulled her head away so Carmilla would get off her. She did, and walked a couple steps away, back turned to Laura, and she threw the crow bar off to the side. “Let me make you an offer, sweetheart. You can have two choices. One, you can stay here and I can use that crow bar,” Carmilla pointed to the one she just threw on the ground, “and really teach you a lesson about bike safety…” She turned around, Laura staring in awe at how someone can be such a heartless person but wear leather like a boss.

"Or you can have option two." Carmilla said, crossing her arms. "Pick your poison." The two stared at each other.

"Well, are you going to tell me the second one?"

"Nope. That’s what’s fun about this game, I can threaten you, but still have my air of mystery." Carmilla replied, moving her eyebrows in such a way that Laura could tell she was having fun threatening her. Laura guessed that if you are a gang member, it must grow on you.

"Fine! I chose two… I guess anything could be better than a brutal beating with a—" Laura was interrupted again as Carmilla started intensely walking towards Laura. Laura looked around for something, anything to yell at for help, but like Carmilla said, there was nothing.

Laura flinched when Carmilla reached for her face, but instead of brutally punching her or doing things of the sorts, Carmilla planted a kiss on Laura’s lips. Laura’s eyes widened, but then she sunk into it, and as Carmilla pulled away, she whispered,

“Welcome to hell, creampuff.”


	2. Option Two and the Doctor Finally Makes Sense

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura finally learns that option two includes more than what was thought.

Carmilla leaned in again for another kiss, but this time it was more intense. Laura's eyes closed as Carmilla moved her hands to holding Laura's jaw. Laura winced when Carmilla started biting at her lip, except, there was something different about this kiss, something different about Carmilla.

Laura felt something sharp grow in her mouth and then an piercing pain rang throughout. The taste of iron was dominant over even her breathing. Carmilla held Laura's head tighter as she sucked up the blood, causing Laura to break open her eyes and start panicking.

Carmilla released the so called "kiss" and looked into Laura's eyes. Laura was speechless, blood still in her mouth, yellow eyes staring into her's.

"What in hell and Hogwarts was that?" Questioned Laura, still a bit dazed from what a surprising turn that took.

"That," she stood up, removing her hands from cradling Laura's head, "was the first part of option two." Carmilla backed up and started licking and whipping dribbles of blood from her lips. Laura looked at the woman in leather with awe. What was the rest of part two?

Carmilla turned on her heels and started circling Laura again. "Part two actually has a few steps... So you basically took the harder option." Carmilla looked at Laura and shrugged, "A good beating would have been a lot quicker, cupcake." Laura was still lingering on how intense the kiss was. Why was blood such a pungent taste in her mouth? Laura's lips tingled, she felt a warm feeling in her cheeks. She looked towards Carmilla on her left to see her towering above her with arms crossed.

"Have you surfaced yet?" She asked.

"Wha-yeah... Yeah. So, what was that 'kiss'?" The word kiss was said with curiosity and annoyance.

"Ah, you're still on that? It's just a kiss, you're a pretty girl, I bet you've had plenty before now." Replied Carmilla with a snarky look on her face. "But that kiss, was the deal sealer. You are now in deeper than you could ever imagine."

"Why don't you tell me what option two is then, so I can get this out of the way and go home to watch Doctor Who?" Laura worked up the courage to ask the strong, brooding woman looking at her.

"Oh sweetie... That's the amazing thing about part two," Carmilla replied with a voice you would talk to a child with, "you are home."

The color drained from Laura's face as she herd those words curl out from between Carmilla's sharp teeth. Carmilla looked to the ground and snickered, "You see, option two means that you become my, _partner in crime_."

Laura's eyes widened, staring straight through the girl, and started shaking in her chair. Option 2 is definitely more difficult than a good beating. "Wait... What do you mean by _partner in crime_?" Laura asked with the words quivering out of her mouth.

Carmilla started circling her again, "You see, we are a different kind of gang." She said, ignoring the tied up doll in front of her. Each of the four groups around this town have their own trademark," she turned and looked at Laura but kept circling, "the Zetas have their signature 'ambush' with salted herring, the Summer Psychos all run around with steaks, and the "dean" of gangs has all their trained animals to attack with." Carmilla stopped and looked at Laura, "But like I said, we're different..." she breathed out with a raspy voice, "our trademark, is that we are a gang with secrets," she stepped closer to Laura.

"What secrets?" Laura was able to muster, "What do you mean by secrets?" She was still shaking, desperately trying to get her hands out of the ropes binding them together. But the knots were holding, and extremely tight, her face turning red as she thought of the possible secrets that could endanger so many citizens.

"Well, I suppose you should know, now that you're a part of the Carmafia." Laura stopped shaking and stared deep into Carmilla, speechless. She couldn't believe that Carmilla had said it, that she had finally said it straight out, was it true that she was part of the Carmafia now?

"Wha-partner in crime? You still haven't explained that... Do I like, get y-you coffee or something when you're breaking into houses or beating up someone in an alleyway?" Asked Laura, still afraid but getting kind of angry.

"Haha, if only it were that easy cupcake." Carmilla snickered. "Well, one of our secrets is that our gang is run by a pretty sexy vampire," the woman stopped circling in front of Laura and motioned her hands down her sides, showing herself like something on display, "if I do say so myself."

Laura couldn't believe what she was hearing. A vampire? Those only exist in movies and television, like Twilight, or Vampi--

"And don't even THINK about comparing us to those lame modern versions of us you humans have created!" Carmilla yelled, catching Laura's attention, and pointing her finger. "Because those 'vampires' don't compare to the type of stuff we do. We don't have petty battles in open fields with lame werewolves or write in our diaries every day. You would be right beside me, in every battle in this town, if I'm nice to ya." Carmilla winked.

Laura hesitated, leaning back in surprise at how odd this all was, especially because she still felt a tingling in her mouth. "Oh yeah, and how are your lips?" She casually asked with seductive eyes, leaning closer to her tied up goody-two-shoes. Laura's eyes widened, she remembered before, something grew inside her mouth while Carmilla kissed her. Laura's tongue felt her bottom lip and surely enough, there were two small holes puncturing it.

"You wear the mark of a Carmafia member now. Everyone in the gang has been bitten by me, only, you're the first I've ever kissed while doing it." She said in her deep, yet flowing voice.

Something squawked in the distance, Carmilla turned to see a raven swooping in and landing on the ground next to her. It morphed and shifted in a puff of black smoke to reveal a small girl with dirty blonde hair and intense hazel eyes. Laura felt completely dumbfounded by everything she's been seeing and experiencing tonight. 'Am I being pranked?' She thought, 'C'mon! Bring out the funny cameras! No? This is real... Oh my god this is real.'

"What do you want Maya?" Carmilla asked without hesitation, "I'm kinda busy here." She motioned to Laura who was still tied up, and Laura cleared her throat. "Oh, Laura, this is Maya, Maya, this is Laura, she's the head of the Carmafia who's on the lower side of the town."

Laura gave a puzzled look, "Um, hi?"

"What's up fresh-meat?" Maya started informing Carmilla, "There's a dude in the lower section who refuses to join, but he's being a real ass and won't stay." Carmilla smiled, "Oh, that's right," she said, turning to Laura, "that's something very important. A part that I am surprised that I skipped over!" Carmilla stepped closer to Laura, with her arms crossed. She bent down and stopped right before Laura's face, so Laura could feel the cold breath of the vampire on her lips, "If you desert, you die."

Laura could feel the blood pumping in her veins and she bet that Carmilla could too. "So this is where I let you out of your ropes and allow you to go home, pack a few things, and return if you wish." Carmilla straightened her back and walked around to behind Laura's chair. She took out a small switch knife from inside her leather pants pocket and bent down, cutting the tight ropes from Laura's arms and waist. She threw a hand on Laura's shoulder before she could run away.

"If you desert you die." She emphasized to her as Laura slowly stood up. Laura nodded her head and looked at the ground, holding in her emotions as Carmilla walked up next to her, hand still on Laura's shoulder. She motioned someone to come closer who was off in the distance. A tall, burly man stepped forward with what looked like Laura's backpack which Carmilla then took from him. She shoved the bag in front of Laura's face, then moved her mouth to Laura's ear where she whispered,

"I like you, small, naïve, but I've got a reputation to uphold. So I'll see you tomorrow, tell the doctor I say hi, cupcake." She released Laura's shoulder and she took off sprinting.

~~~~

Laura crashed through the front doors of her apartment building, ran up the stairs and into the elevator situated in the back of the building. She repeatedly pressed the "3" button as she felt herself fill with tears. This was all hitting her now, she's a member of a gang in this city, she's going to have to leave her apartment, probably never see her parents again, and do terrible things like killing, which Carmilla is off doing to some poor man on the lower side of town.

Tears were dripping down her face in the elevator as it came to a halt, and the doors slid open. She ran out and around a corner to room 312, her apartment, her last night in this apartment. She fiddled with her keys, the tears building in her eyes didn't help with trying to find the one for the front door.

When she found it, she shoved it in the lock and turned, opening the door and letting herself fall in. She burst into tears as she threw the door shut, her keys on the front table, and her backpack on the ground. She slumped over to her couch and fell on it, balled up, shaking, and wailing.

The television was left on this morning, so the reruns of Doctor Who masked the sound of complete and utter realization of change that ran through her apartment. She cried like this for about two hours, missing the new episode and a couple reruns.

She stopped crying when she heard the eleventh doctor, one of her favorites, start reciting a quote,

"It all just disappears doesn’t it? Everything you are? Gone in a moment, like breath on a mirror, any moment now he’s coming. The Doctor. Yep, and I always will be, but times change and so must I. Amelia, the first face this face saw. We all change, when you think about it, we’re all different people all through our lives, and that’s okay, that’s good, you gotta keep moving, so long as you remember all the people that you used to be. I will not forget one line of this, not one day, I swear, I will always remember when the Doctor was me."

Laura stared at the screen as she drank up those words. The doctor had a point, for once, that no matter who she becomes in this new endeavor, what she does, she will never forget the cooped up, tidy, nice Laura she was. It will always carry through into whatever she does, no matter how scary her new vampire boss is.

She looked over at her clock on the wall, it read 3:45. Laura decided to go to bed, she needed some sleep, and she could pack in the morning, because tomorrow was going to be a long day.


	3. Moving Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura finally lets out her inner turmoil and finds Carmilla to learn more about the Carmafia.

It was a tiresome night, Laura had gotten four hours of sleep and hadn't eaten since breakfast the day before. She readjusted the duffle bag on he shoulder, filled with clothes, food (specifically cookies), and a couple little knick-knacks to remind her of home.

Laura felt a tear well up in her eye as she remembered that her apartment, her home, was now ruined. Books everywhere, food splattered across the floor, the television was broken, and even her bed sheets were hanging out the open window. More tears built up as she remembered what she did just a few hours ago.

~~~~~~~~~~

Before Laura could get too far, sprinting away, a wall of broody men stepped in front of her. Laura assumed they worked of Carmilla because she heard light footsteps getting closer. No big, burly man would be able to make such a petite sound.

"One more thing, cupcake." Said a sultry voice from behind her, "There's another secret to the Carmafia that you should know about." She slowly walked up in front of Laura, her combat boots beating against the cobblestone streets. "Before you leave your home in the morning, you should cover your tracks. And when you do..." Carmilla stepped closer and paused her thought, "You've seen missing people's report on the news right? How, some are actual missing people, but others are more mysterious?" Laura nodded, eyes filling with tears, "Some people who have gone missing, leave something of importance behind, like a drawing on their wall, like a giant letter 'C'."

Laura's eyes slowly looked up to meet Carmilla's, she realized what the strange connection between the missing persons reports and the letter C's found on their walls was, the letter stood for "Carmafia", they've been dropping hints all along. Now she was wondering why the police haven't been able to figure anything out, it's so obvious once you put the two scenarios in your head.

"We like to keep them guessing." Said Carmilla with a smirk on her face, "Speaking of, guessing." Carmilla pulled out the small pocket knife she used to cut Laura's ropes before, she showed it to Laura, turning it with the blade open in her hand. "I don't want to have to use this," she leaned closer, "cupcake." She waved the men out of Laura's way and Carmilla motioned for her to start running, and Laura did.

~~~~~~~~~~

After she got a few hours of sleep in her apartment, she grabbed some clothes from her closet; a few tank tops, some jeans, sneakers, and a couple jackets and sweatshirts. She packed them into a black duffle bag the said "Police", which her father had given her.

Laura took one more walk around her apartment, looking at her belongings and old photos, which would soon be evidence in her missing persons report. She stopped to look at one photo in particular, this one had her, her mom, and dad in it. The image was of her family at the town faire the year her mom died. Smiles were still displayed on their faces, smiles that would soon disappear for years to come.

She could hear the sounds of music in the background, laughter from friends, the smell of popcorn and cotton candy lingered playfully in the air along with the surrounding children's attentions. Looking at the picture, she could feel the warmth of the sun and her parent's hug.

Laura picked up the picture and brought it to her room where she placed it on top of her clothes inside the duffle bag. She zippered the bag shut and turned around, forming tears in her eyes as she picked up the baseball bat that her dad makes her keep in the closet. She walked into her combined living-dining room and looked around, taking in one last look through the layer of tears. She turned toward the television, wound up, and swung at it, breaking the screen into a million tiny glass pieces on the floor.

She dropped the bat, astounded and frightened at what she was doing. Her hands flew up to cup her face and let herself break down. She fell to the floor on her knees, sobbing. She wiped away the dried tears on her face and stood back up; she had to finish the job, or it could mean her life.

She slowly walked over to the kitchen, taking down her pots and pans from the cupboard and dropping them on the floor, crashing to the ground. Laura then opened the refrigerator and peered inside. There wasn't much, leftovers from the past week and a few sodas, which she took out, shook up, and threw on the floor, making them explode everywhere.

Laura winced when the top of the can popped open, shooting out a geyser of the sugary drink. That was her favorite soda, and she started thinking about how she is now rarely going to have them. She had a sinking feeling in her stomach as she reached in the refrigerator for some of the leftovers. She opened the container and threw it across the counter.

Laura stopped and had to take a breath, this was so unlike her and her usual organization; she didn't like it at all. Her dad would probably be the one responding to this call, he would head up her missing persons report. How could Laura do this to her father, after still being hung up on the loss of her mother for so long? Maybe Carmilla would be nice enough to let her see him at least once, it was a stretch but worth a try.

She walked over to one drawer in her kitchen, the drawer where she kept her art supplies. She pulled it open and took out a bottle of black spray paint she used on a big canvas that hung in her dad's apartment. Walking over to a wall in her living room, she uncapped the can. Laura shook it and pointed it at the dark red wall, pausing to take a breath and wipe away the dried tears on her face. She pushed down on the nozzle and it spewed out black paint, Laura moved her arm in a way that a giant 'C' was bold, like a hollow in reality, on her wall.

She stepped back and looked, anger finally building up in her. She turned to her couch and grabbed the pillows, throwing them at the 'C' protruding into her living room. She yelled and cried at the wall as she was slowly brought to her knees in front of it. She got quiet as her mind went blank, nothing made sense anymore. The glass next to her, the 'C' on her wall, the food splattered across the floor; maybe the Doctor was right about some situations, but with this one, it was hard to believe.

Laura got up again and walked to the kitchen, reached up to the top of the refrigerator and grabbed three of the five boxes of cookies that sat unharmed. She carried them into her bedroom, passing a room that looked like a tornado had blown through.

Once she got to her bedroom, she grabbed the duffle bag that was sitting on her bed and threw it on her shoulder. Laura stopped and realized that, after this, she couldn't just waltz out into the open like nothing happened. She put the cookies and bag on the ground, ran over to her closet, and grabbed an extra, plain, grey sweatshirt that she quickly put on.

Walking back to her stuff she looked at her cozy bed. Her sheets were white with big black dots on them. She walked over to the window next to her bed, opened it and reached for her blankets. Laura took them and laid them in the window, so some was still inside but the rest was flowing in the wind outside.

Laura went back to her bag, flung it over her shoulder and put her cookies in hand, walked through her living room once more, and out the door.

~~~~~~~~~~

Laura hobbled down the cobblestone road, readjusting her bag and stuffing another cookie into her mouth. She took the same path to where she was last night, hoping that Carmilla or one of her goons was there waiting.

She turned the corner to face the inward walls of two buildings next to each other, the tall lamp Laura was tied up under was still lit, even though it was day time. She started walking over and made out a figure leaning on it.

"I really didn't think you'd come back, creampuff." The figure said without a hitch, as she turned from leaning on the street lamp to face the tired half-pint. "Aww, look at you, all bundled up, ready for winter in the dead of spring." Carmilla motioned to Laura's boxes of cookies, "Why do you need those? I hope you realize we do have living spaces and food, we don't just steal from grocery stores for fun." Laura looked up at Carmilla, puzzled. "Well, yeah it's fun too, but you get what I mean." Carmilla glared at Laura and then her look softened.

"Today I show you your living quarters, follow me." She turned on her heels and started quickly walking away. Laura sped up to try and stay with the leather-wearing woman's pace but her duffle bag was making it hard.

"Can you hold on a second?" Laura asked shyly. Carmilla stopped, let out a big sigh and turned to look at Laura.

"It's just down a couple more streets, I think a strong, yet provincial, girl like you can handle it."

"I was just forced to trash my apartment, get three hours of sleep, and walk at least four miles in the past twelve hours so I could join a gang I never wanted to join in the first place! So could you at least cut me a little slack?" Carmilla was surprised at the tiny thing's hidden audacity. She shrugged and walked over, grabbing the girl's boxes of cookies, replying with,

"There, is the load lighter?" Carmilla gave a scrunched up face to Laura as she turned around, reaching in a box for a cookie and helping herself. "Now grab your bag and let's go." She yelled back to Laura, who obeyed and picked up her bag, trudging foreword.

~~~~~~~~~~~

They walked for a solid 20 minutes down paths and small alley-ways to end up at a big, abandoned warehouse. Laura stopped and took it in, paint chipping, rusty metal, but big doors and windows. 'Kind of like a big loft,' Laura thought, 'but I'm sharing it with a bunch of goons who possibly want to kill me...'

Carmilla walked to a large metal door and knocked in a pattern-like way. The door opened to reveal a plethora of broody men and sly women gathered around tables, playing cards, drinking, and cursing to their hearts desire. Not Laura's usual cup of tea.

Carmilla walked along the inside wall of the building, up a small, metal flight of stairs to a second floor which consisted of small rooms all along the perimeter of the central warehouse room. Carmilla kept walking along the platform until she reached a room in the back of the warehouse, just off center.

"This is your room, all the women have a room on this wall of the warehouse, the men get the rest."

Laura looked around to see that there was incredibly small amount of women to men in the Carmafia, this gave Laura an unsettling feeling.

"Don't worry, your room is right next to mine," Carmilla motioned to the room positioned in the center of the warehouse, "and no one bothers me. Plus, you're my _partner in crime_ , so no one's going to lay a finger on you, so long as I'm here."

This was partially satisfying, the fact that she was potentially protected by her new vampire boss, but it was also partially alarming because her new vampire boss was protecting her. Carmilla opened the door to reveal a small room, no bigger than a regular bathroom in a house, with a board, attached and strapped to the wall, making it look more like a prison cell than a bed room.

"Better get settled and as much sleep as you can, five-hour energy, because tomorrow you start training." Carmilla said with a smirk and a quick slap to Laura's back, then she disappeared into her room with one more look around and a wink at Laura.

Laura stood dumbfounded for a moment, looked around to see if anyone else had seen that, and ducked into her room.


	4. Tours and Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura gets a quick tour of the facilities and gets close with her trainer.

Laura woke to the sound of banging on her metal bedroom door.

"Yo, Hollis!" Yelled a male voice from outside, "Wake up, first day is always the hardest, and it gets even harder if you're not out of your room before Karnstein's awake."

Laura's eyes slowly opened to look at a cement wall staring back. The light covers that Laura brought were wrapped around her like she was a small burrito. She felt exhausted and drained from the lack of sleep she's gotten in the past two days, plus a bunch of Carmilla's mobsters were up all night drunk and playing cards. Her steady diet of chocolate chip cookies wasn't helping her energy level either.

There was more banging at the door and the masculine voice spoke again,"Hollis you really gotta get up, Carmilla is gonna be awake any minute. Then we have to take you around the place."

Laura took a deep breath in and exhaled, letting her chest expand and fall as she started sitting up. Unwrapping the blankets and setting them aside, her sock-covered feet touched the cold cement floor. She looked over to her right where, on the wall, she had taped the photo of her and her parents at the festival.

She yawned and rubbed her eyes, then ran her fingers through her hair. Her duffle bag was thrown, deserted in the middle of the floor. She reached over and unzipped it, grabbing a new tank top, her black, zip-up hoodie, and skinny jeans.

She was zipping up her hoodie when she hear yet another bang at her door, "Last call newbie. Boss isn't gonna like this."

"I'm coming, alright." Laura yelled back, she dove her hand into her bag and rummaged around for a hair tie. She found one, stretched it out and pulled her hair back up into a pony tail.

Laura looked back at the photo taped to the wall, walked over and put her hand next to it. She exhaled, feeling everything build up inside he again, the sadness and anger from destroying her apartment and leaving it for her father to find, empty.

What would he be thinking? Now that he's lost his wife and technically his daughter? Why did Laura ever come to this place when her dad was a cop? He could have helped defend her, but Laura didn't want to take any risks. If she did that, then she was also putting her dad at risk, and she'd rather them both be safe than both be dead.

Tears started welling in her eyes again as her head dropped to look at her grey socks on the grey floor. She wiped away her tears with her free hand and pushed away from the wall looking for her shoes. She bent down and grabbed her navy Converse that she wore yesterday while roaming the streets trying to find Carmilla. Speaking of, she hadn't heard that man's voice or any banging from the other side of the door in a while.

Laura quickly tied her shoes and got up, zippering her sweatshirt, walked to the metal door and pulled it open.

"GAAH!" Laura screamed when she saw Carmilla standing in her doorway facing her. One of Carmilla's arms was propped up against the metal doorframe and the other placed on her hip. With her yellow eyes staring Laura up and down she said with a sultry voice,

"Morning cupcake."

Laura stood frozen in her cell, her face reddened. She tried looking for the man who was warning her earlier, but didn't see anyone past the curvy vampire in front of her. Laura guessed leather was her thing because she was dressed from head to toe in it.

"Did you get ANY sleep last night?" She asked.

"Hard to when there's a bunch of noisy drunkards right outside your room." Laura replied.

"Well, that's what you get for stepping in front of my bike." Carmilla smirked and stood straight, "Now, for your quick tour of the facility and your first day of training." She turned, facing towards the middle of the warehouse, and walked down the metal corridor.

Laura stepped out of her room and closed the door, she looked around for the man who woke her, but she couldn't find anyone, he probably ran for it when he heard Carmilla wake up. She followed the "U" shaped path along the inner-edge of the building, down the flight of metal stairs and walked over to a table in the center of the vast room where she found Carmilla talking to a few of her members. One of them motioned to Laura and Carmilla turned around.

"Ah yes, I'll talk to you guys later," she voiced to the small group, "I gotta show this," she looked Laura up and down, "...yoga instructor," she uttered with a disgusted face, "around and how to properly run from an oncoming bike." The group laughed at Carmilla's stab at Laura. Her mouth dropped open, Laura knew that this would be hard but she didn't think this type of thing was a part of it. Carmilla smirked.

"What cutie? Cat got your tongue?" More ohhs and laughter came from the small group. Laura didn't get that insult, but she just let it roll off her shoulder.

"Alright, you obviously know where the bedrooms are." She said, motioning to the second floor metal lining around the room. "Follow me." Ordered Carmilla and Laura did as she said.

Carmilla walked her over to the right side of the warehouse and explained how this side was for food storage. Laura looked over Carmilla's shoulder to see boxes of stolen food, water, and alcohol. All those could be sent to shelters around the city and help feed people on the streets, 'well,' she thought, 'I'm technically living on the streets now.' And she shrugged.

Carmilla walked her over to the middle section again. This time, Carmilla opened her arms wide and slowly spun around as she walked to a table that was randomly placed.

"This," she said with a big smile on her face, "is the main section of the warehouse. Here is where we play cards, have meetings, make bets," and she stopped, looking at Laura and letting her smile grow larger, "and it's where we come to pop open a few drinks after a successful gang war!" Laura was astonished, how could they celebrate something that ruined homes, businesses, families, and even killed people?

"Hell yeah we do!" Yelled a drunk goon from across the room, "Does the newbie want 'er first official Carmafia cold one?"

"Nah, save those for later. This _newbie_ is headed for training now." Carmilla replied for Laura.

"God save 'er!" The man announced with a swig of his beer. It was seven in the morning, why was he having a beer? Laura concluded that he was probably one of the drunks from last night.

Carmilla walked toward the right side of the building and over to a single metal door left in the cement wall. With a creak, it opened to reveal a long room attached. Inside were makeshift weights, benches, dummies, and even a small shooting range. Carmilla walked to the right, near the weights.

"As you can tell, here is where we come to stay in shape," she, again, looked Laura up and down, "we can't have any scrawny weaklings ruining our chances." Laura didn't like how her first day was starting off.

To Laura's right was a metal cabinet which Carmilla walked over to and threw open. Inside was a vault of weaponry. Knives, guns, way more than Laura ever saw her dad with.

"Here is our pride and joy." She ran her fingers along some of the pieces. "We all have our designated weapons." She started naming people, "Mark has a knife, so does Sam and Jade. Tina is more a gun woman, and so is Natasha, just to name a few." She looked back a Laura, "Now we have to find which is for you."

Laura had stayed quiet during this entire tour but this worried her, "Woah! I don't need a gun or a knife or anything. I thought I was just here to grab you coffee when you needed it. Isn't that what your _partner in crime_ does?"

Carmilla laughed, "Your position is more like my, right hand woman, the person who everyone looks up to as my _helper_ , or even in desperate times, my back up." Laura looked back at the vault of small artillery, she couldn't imagine herself throwing a knife around, let alone holding a gun to someone.

"And by the way," Carmilla interrupted her thoughts, "if you're so bent on getting coffee with me, wouldn't it just be easier to ask?" Laura's face reddened.

"I-I don't want to get coffee with you. You're my new boss that forcibly put me in this position, I seriously want nothing to do with you!"

"Oh, harsh cupcake... But the anger is good, pick up something from the vault; the anger will help you focus." Laura glared at Carmilla who was returning with a smile.

She looked into the deep metal box with knives strapped to the doors and guns in holders on the inside. Laura saw one in particular, a smaller gun. It matte black in color and had a slimmer handle than any of the others.

"Ah, going for the small ones." Carmilla observed, "That's a handgun with a woman's grip, nice for those tiny fingers of yours." Laura looked up at Carmilla with a disgusted face.

"I've used one like this before. My dad took me out to the range like, twice when I was little. My mom never liked it because she didn't think it was womanly." She turned it over in her hands and thought about what she was about to do. Before she could put it back or turn around and walk out of the room, Carmilla took the gun from her hands and walked over to a case on the floor. Carmilla opened it to reveal ammo stacked in large amounts; she filled Laura's.

"Alright, now you're going to step anywhere behind that line," she pointed to a spray painted line on the cement floor, " and you're going to shoot at this." She walked over to one of the dummies randomly placed on the other side of the black line and wrapped her arm around it, her leather pants and jacket did her scary and curvy physique so much justice.

Carmilla walked back over the black line and handed Laura the small weapon. "Have at it spaz."

With that, Laura gripped the handle with her right hand and held it up, with her left hand on the bottom to steady it. She closed one eye and shot three times at the dummy. The first completely missing, the second just grazing the dummy, and the third completely missed. Laura could hear Carmilla snickering in the background.

"Um, we might need a bit of work to get you to remember your 'old times' at the range with your dad." Laura looked back at Carmilla with a worried face.

"Well, first of all, your stance is too rigid." Carmilla walked over and kicked at Laura's feet, opening them shoulder-length apart and not completely perpendicular to the dummy, but on an angle. She then took Laura's wrist and propped up the gun to line up with the dummy. "You can adjust that as you need." She grabbed Laura's free hand and brought it up to hold the bottom of the handle. "This part, you had right." Finally, Carmilla walked behind Laura and grabbed her hips, turning them so they faced the wall her feet were also pointing at.

Carmilla stood behind Laura, breathing on the back of her neck. She didn't move her hands from Laura's hips as she whispered, "Just calm down, bend your arms slightly." And Laura did so. "Now just look over the rim of the gun and line it up with the dummy." Laura tried to focus on lining it up, but the cold, emptiness of a vampire on her back wasn't helping. "And when you're ready, shoot." Laura did, and she shot the dummy square in the chest.

Laura felt a rush of excitement pulse through her, and she spun around to meet Carmilla who was also smiling. But Laura's smile deteriorated.

"What's wrong sour puss? You only got one of four shots? That's okay, a bit more work needs to be done, but that's pretty good for a newbie."

"No, it's not that."

"Oh, you finally realized that you might actually need to use one of these. Well, trust me it'll go--"

"Karnstein, look at what already made the headlines!" A female voice yelled from the main area of the warehouse. Carmilla quickly took out the ammo and put the gun back in the vault and locked it. They both ran back in.

"Look at this, 'Cop's Daughter Missing'." Said a tall, blonde woman in all black and leather, scrappy boots. Carmilla picked up the paper from her hands and looked at the article.

Laura looked over her shoulder to see a man looking in her apartment, it was her dad. He was red-eyed and sobbing in the doorway, his hand holding his head and the place was still a mess.

"Nice job fresh meat! Looks like you really trashed the place!" Smirked the tall blonde. Laura's breath got heavier and tears formed in the corners of her eyes. A terrible feeling arose in her stomach and she grabbed the paper from Carmilla, running back to her room.


	5. The Makeshift Suicide Note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura deals with more grief from leaving her father torn to pieces and alone, and Carmilla decides to help.

Laura's pillow was soaked in tears, and the ink from the crumpled up newspaper in her hand was smudged, yet there was no sound. She laid in her bed in utter silence as her insides caved. Her face was buried in her pillow, leaving little room for air. Torso shaking, she pulled her legs up and rolled on her side. Laura’s eyes burned when they got the slightest touch of air.

She breathed heavily and at an unnatural tune. Shadows started getting larger and darker around her, leaving barely any light in her room. She held up the newspaper again and saw the smudged picture of her dad; his hands still holding his head as his face reddened, she could tell he was crying.

‘How could I do this to him?’ Laura thought, ‘I’m done, I technically don’t exist anymore, my dad is so fragile right now, I can’t believe I upset him this much, I am a worthless thing… I _don’t_ exist anymore. No one would miss me if I were actually gone…’ She looked over, next to her duffle bag on the floor and found some rope that was left in her room, she guessed from before she arrived. She looked up and found a single metal pipe that ran through her cement ceiling. She reached over and picked up the rope, playing with it in her hands. Her thoughts were interrupted by a bang on the door.

“Hey, Hollis,” it was the, louder than usual, sultry voice of Carmilla, “you can’t just run out on training like that. That’s strike one, open this damn door.” Laura looked up at the door and immediately felt disgust towards the woman, but then she spoke again, in a softer voice.

  
“Laura, I have a bit of a reputation to hold here, that’s what that just was. But if you open the door, I can help you. Every recruit has gone through this, and no one’s been there to help them. But you, yours is different. Open up.”

Laura slowly sat up and wiped away her dried tears and runny nose, then spoke in a shaky voice.

“Really? You expect me to give in a-and just open this door to let you mess with me even more?” Laura’s hate was building up inside her, like she was a volcano and lava was building up inside her, “You’re the one who got me in this mess in the first place, you’re the one who has torn my family and my life apart. You could have just let me go but no, you had to be the power-hungry, mean, ignorant, sexy, vampuric, demon that you are!”

There was a moment of silence, Laura was heavily breathing. ‘She deserved it, it needed to be said.’ Laura reassured herself.

“Did you just call me sexy?” Carmilla asked from behind the door. Laura’s face reddened.

“You’re still a complete, raging bad person.” Laura replied, crossing her arms.

“C’mon Hollis, please open up.” Laura, still shaking, pushed her hands on her bed and pushed off, nearly collapsing on the wall. She slowly walked over and grabbed the cold handle on the metal door, the rope still in the hand stabilizing her against the wall.

The door opened and there stood Carmilla, a worried face shot across. “What are you doing Hollis?” She asked as she saw the rope in her hand and her hair no longer resembling a pony tail, her eyes were also swollen and red.

“Nothing, just exploring options.” Laura replied as she tossed the rope on her bed. Carmilla walked in and shut the door behind her.

“Laura,” Carmilla said and she pulled Laura over to the prison-cell bed. “I know it’s tough, but you are just turning to a new chapter in your life story. Sure, it involves a dirtier form of living and the bathrooms aren’t as pearly as your ones at your old apartment,” Carmilla nudged Laura and chuckled. Laura sat there looking at Carmilla, wondering how she lives with herself, “but it’s something you just become accustomed to. Living like this is definitely lonely and it’s survive or die, but being in the Carmafia at least means that you have others to lean on.”

Laura glanced at the newspaper in her hand, “Really? Because all I’ve gotten so far is made fun of and a father who is probably torn apart now.”

Carmilla looked at the paper and back at Laura, “I promise you, if you make it through this first week, it will be nice and easy from then on. You’re my right-hand woman, remember? Nothing will hurt you as long as I’m around, not even yourself. I need you for our turf wars.”

“I didn’t even leave him a goodbye note or anything.”

Carmilla sighed, “I don’t usually do this, but I think it will help you.” Laura looked up at Carmilla with hopeful eyes. “Write that letter to your dad, you have the rest of today off to do so. Meet me outside the front door tomorrow morning.” Carmilla got up and walked to the door.

“Wait, w-why?”

“Just do it Hollis, I don’t wanna have to come back here.” She yelled, looking at the door. Carmilla looked back at Laura, then said in a lower voice, “You’ll see.” Then she opened the door and stomped out, yelling “Pull it together Hollis!” and slamming the door. Laura then heard Carmilla tell her followers in the main section of the warehouse to get back to work.

 -----------------------

Laura had her note folded into a square in her grey hoodie’s pocket. She opened her bedroom door and peered out. It was the most crisp part of the morning, where the sun wasn't up yet but the moon was still in full beauty.

She slowly walked out and closed the door behind her, her navy blue Converse blended in with the shadows of the warehouse. Silence filled the place, except for when Laura shut the metal door and it creaked ever so loudly. She looked around and quickly finished shutting the door, with her hands shaking, she pulled her hoodie up onto her head.

Laura slowly walked around the metal corridor and down the flight of stairs and up to the big doors that enclosed the Carmafia headquarters. With great effort she pulled the door open enough to slip through and close behind her. They were heavy, she wondered how Carmilla opened them so much and so easily.

“Hey cupcake.” Said a light yet stern voice from behind her. Laura turned around and saw Carmilla, not dressed in her usual amount of leather. She had on leather pants and boots, but she had her hair up in a bun and a black sweatshirt on. “Man, you look like shit. Long night?”

“Ya, kinda. Writing this wasn’t all too easy.” Laura replied as she pulled the folded piece of paper out of her pocket, holding it out to Carmilla. Carmilla reached out and picked it from her fingers, she read it quietly.

“Father, I am sorry, but I’ve come to a point in my life where I needed to make a decision for myself; a hard decision. I hope that you support me in this choice as I have made it for the safety of both of us. I did something stupid, I didn’t look both ways before I crossed the street, like you always told me. Don’t worry about me, I’m not completely dead and neither are you, which is what matters; that we are alive and thriving. Please move on, staying stuck on two points in your past isn’t healthy. Mom was a fantastic woman, I miss her every day too, and me, you can just remember me as the organized, proper girl I was, and I hope you do. I can’t put into words how much I miss you and want everything to be back to normal, but the world doesn’t work like that, now does it? Please don’t look into my disappearance too much because if you do then worse things will happen. Just know that I will be around. All I can ask of you is to please find happiness in your situation now, and never let go of it. I love you, a lot. Thank you for everything you have ever done for me.” Carmilla paused, “signed, ‘your LaLa’.”

Carmilla folded and handed the note back to Laura.

“Nice job spaz, so you’re a literature person.” Carmilla pulled her hoodie up, “Alright, follow me.” She started walking away and Laura followed.

“So, where are you taking me at such an early time in the morning?”

“Haha! Early? Sweetie, I’m a vampire, this is not ‘early’ for me.” Carmilla shoved her hands into her sweatshirt pockets and kept walking.

“Okay, so where are you taking me?”

Carmilla sighed, “I have many members stationed all over this city, so I asked around and found where your dad gets his morning coffee every day.”

Laura’s heart jumped, “Oh my god, am I going to get to talk him?”

“No, that is forbidden. You will get to see him, I’ll do the work. Just hold the note until we get there and then find a bench for us to sit on while we wait for him.” Carmilla turned a corner and Laura sped up to follow.

“So, you let me write this note and you’re going to give it to him?”

“Yes. Now shut up and just keep following. You’re lucky I’m letting you even see him. I usually station people far from where their old life took place for his reason exactly.” Laura looked at Carmilla and then at the cobblestone ground, staying quiet.

She remembered the night where Carmilla almost ran her over. She had a different view of the same cobblestones back then. She remembered that they were hurting her legs after her long day of work yet they were still old and pretty, but now, she didn’t care as much about them, they were just plain stones to her now.

After about a half hour of walking, Carmilla led Laura out of the alley they were in, into a descent sized grassy park area. There was a road around the park that was in the shape of a circle, and the shops surrounding followed this as well. To their left was a coffee shop and Laura pointed to it, “That’s it, that’s the shop.”

“Good, Katelyn did well with her directions." Carmilla paused and looked at Laura, "Oh, right. Katelyn is the head of the Carmafia on the east side of the city... Here, lets wait at a bench across the park.” Carmilla motioned to a bench to the right. They crossed the street when there was a gap in the traffic and made their way over to the bench where they sat down. Laura crossed her legs and Carmilla stared at Laura's legs.

“You are such a pretentious girl.”

“Excuse me, I’m tired and this is just a habit because I wasn’t raised in hell, unlike you.”

“I’m from eastern Europe.” Carmilla glared at Laura then eased back, “Potato, pot-ah-to.” Laura looked down and felt fatigued, but Carmilla spoke again.

“Your dad usually sits in the one right across from the coffee shop.” Laura looked at Carmilla, amazed at how much a girl in a black hoodie knew about her dad.

“When he arrives, he will walk in, get his coffee, and when he comes out, I’ll walk by, bump into him, slip the note in his pocket and step in the shop like nothing happened.” Carmilla looked at Laura, even with her legs crossed, she was slouching, with swollen, red eyes and her hands shoved in her pockets.

“Don’t worry, he’s here every day, and he’ll be here soon.” Carmilla nudged Laura with her hand.

A few minutes went by and they sat in silence, Carmilla constantly looking around to see if he had arrived yet, and Laura just stared at the ground.

“Hey cupcake, look at who’s car I see.” Laura looked up a Carmilla and then behind her. Sure enough, a cop car had just pulled into a parking space and out popped a man with grey hair yet no wrinkles. He wore his police uniform and his badge on his chest. It was, without a doubt, Laura’s father.

He stood next to his car and looked around, Laura could see that his eyes were red too. He rubbed them and took a deep breath in, then closed his car door and walked into the coffee shop.

Carmilla slowly got up, “I’m going to start heading over.” Laura nodded, handed her the folded paper and watched.

Carmilla walked across the grass as Laura’s dad walked out of the shop holding a large coffee. Carmilla walked right next to and bumped into him.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry officer!” She reached out her hands, as if to help him catch his balance, and slipped the note into his pants pocket.

“It’s alright, no spills. Just go about your day. Please be safe.” He replied in a deep, sorrowful voice as he turned and walked to the bench. Carmilla replied with a thank you and continued into the coffee shop.

Laura sat there, her head resting on her arms which were placed on the back of the bench so she could watch her dad drink his coffee. She saw Carmilla walk out of the shop and past her dad again, holding two coffees.

“Here, one for you sweetie, to pass the time and help you feel a bit more normal.” Carmilla handed the coffee to Laura. It was warm and smelled like her father. She took a sip as Carmilla sat down next to her and turned to face the coffee shop. "Funny, I always thought you would be the one to buy us coffees first, because that seems to be the  _only_ thing you care about in your job description." Laura ignored Carmilla's joke and continued looking at her father.

He sat back in the bench and sipped from his cup, looking around as the sun rose over the buildings surrounding them. He rubbed at his leg and looked down at his coffee. He paused and reached into his pocket, pulling out the note and unfolding it.

Laura’s heart got heavy as she clutched the cardboard cup. She watched as her father read the note and set his coffee down, then reached up and cupped his forehead. He shot up and looked around frantically between the paper and his surroundings.

Tears built up in Laura’s eyes and she slowly set her cup on the ground. She looked over at Carmilla who was nonchalantly leaning back in the park bench. All Laura wanted right then was to break free from Carmilla and collapse in the arms of her dad, crying, apologizing, and telling him everything that happened, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t get up, all she could do was fall into Carmilla’s arms.

Carmilla nearly spat out her coffee as Laura tightened her hug around Carmilla.

“Um, spaz?” Carmilla was able to choke out, but she gave up her attempt to ask about anything more. She just wrapped her arms around the tiny thing and watched people go by who stared at the two girls hugging in sweatshirts, looking tired, with one bawling her eyes out.

“C’mon. Let’s go back to the warehouse.” Carmilla suggested, she moved her hand to Laura’s chin and pulled up so they were face to face. Laura nodded and Carmilla bent down to grab Laura’s coffee.

Carmilla helped Laura up, wrapped their arms around each other’s shoulders and walked back to the alley in which they came. Laura looked back one last time at her dad. He was sitting back on the bench, staring down at the note. Laura forced away her gaze and laid her head on Carmilla’s shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about my recent lack of uploads! I also promised a second chapter upload on Thursday or Friday (depending on where I am able to find wifi). So, expect one more chapter this week, and it may be a bit more exciting than this one!


	6. Screams That Permeate The Darkest of Shadows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura returns from her traumatic experience of leaving her father for good for another traumatic experience called 'training'.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I have not uploaded a chapter in forever! With my summer being busier than intended and school starting up I never had a chance to write a new chapter, but here it is! I hope you enjoy it!

Carmilla stepped toward the giant metal doors of the Carmafia HQ, it was almost mid-day and Laura was ready to collapse. Her emotions and thoughts were whizzing through her head and she was so fatigued, she could barely keep her balance. She couldn’t believe that she just left her dad there, alone, confused, without any real answers. The world was slowly spinning as she tried to assess what she had just done until a lower-raspy voice came from the striking woman in front of her,

“Hey tiny,” Carmilla said to Laura, “take this.” She walked over behind a big green garbage bin that was next to the building and bent down to grab two cloth bags, both big in size and a bit bulky all around.

“What are those for?” Laura asked, wiping dry tears off of her face.

“These are bags full of money and guns I stole a while back.” Laura stared in amazement. Carmilla held them up like she was holding a small grocery bag and not two big bags weighing a couple hundred pounds. “I kept them here just in case I needed to cover myself from something I had to do. Like give a creampuff’s dad a letter.”

Carmilla handed the bag over to Laura who immediately dropped it to the ground.

“Damn, this thing is heavy!”

“Be quiet, we have to go in acting like we just robbed a bank and an outdoors store.” Carmilla turned toward the door and grabbed the handle, “I hope your acting is as good as your journalism.” She turned around again to face Laura, correcting herself, she said, “Or hopefully a little bit better.” With that she swung open the big metal doors and entered like the ring leader of a circus.

A bustling headquarters filled the warehouse with strings of cursing and the sound of gun shots from the short range. Laura followed Carmilla in and to a table in the center of the room where they placed the bags and stood as her goons looked in shock.

“Gather ‘round everyone. This morning I found our little newbie sneaking out for her first robbery.” Oh’s erupted from the gathering crowd. “And I’m pleased to announce,” Carmilla reached into both of the bags pulling out a wad of money in one hand and a rifle in the other, “that it was a successful attempt.”

Everyone started clapping, some walked over and patted Laura on the back, congratulating her. People started asking how she did it and where she went. Laura started getting nervous and looked at Carmilla for help.

“Um, she went to a small bank on the corner of Elm and Birch and the outdoors store right next to it. I was there to help her haul out the goods. She still needs to work on getting her strength up. Still a bit wimpy there Hollis.” Carmilla smirked and nudged her.

 

Laura couldn’t help but smile. Even though she had just seen her dad for the last time and now everyone thought she had robbed a bank and an outdoors store, this was the first time in many days that anyone has done anything nice for her, and she now knew that Carmilla would be there to help.

“Alright, Marco, you take this stuff and put them in their respective vaults. Laura, you had a long night but that doesn’t exclude you from your training. Head to the work out room and clear everyone out of there; we work on your strength today.” Carmilla motioned Laura to the weight room/shooting range. Laura turned from the table and headed to the far side of the room to the single door. As she left she heard Carmilla talking to her group,

“I think she’d be a great asset.”

“She just robbed a bank at three in the morning. I say she’s put in that position if Carmilla thinks she’s good enough.”

“She does have a few kinks to work out.”

“And we have to get her out of those yoga pants.”

“Who’s going to tell her all of her cookies are gone?”

“All in favor of her being my right-hand woman, say ‘I’.” suggested Carmilla. Laura turned her head as she reached for the door handle to see that the entire group was raising their hands. Laura opened the door and saw a couple guys shooting targets.

“Hey, um, Carmilla wants you guys out. I have a private work out session with her.”

“Oh man,” said one of the guys, “last time she had a ‘private session’ with someone, they ended up incredibly horny and incredibly low on blood… He had two holes in his neck too...” They both snickered as they put their guns away and ran out, “Good luck newbie.” And they shut the door behind them.

Laura stood there, mouth open wondering what could have happened and if she should be worried now. ‘I shouldn’t be. She just said I have to get stronger… Right?’ Just as she was finishing her thought the door slammed open. There stood the curvy vampire in tight leather with guns holstered around her thighs. ‘Yep. Horny part is correct.’ Laura thought as she looked her new boss up and down. Carmilla interrupted her thoughts,

“You ready Laura?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

“Alright,” Carmilla projected as she entered and closed the door behind her, “start on one of those.” She motioned to a set of dumbbells and a bench press. Laura walked over and looked the bench press over. She removed the hundred pound weights from both sides of the bar to leave the 40 pound bar itself on the stand.

“Ah, going big I see.” Carmilla squeaked out sarcastically. Laura ignored the comment, laid down on the bench and reached for the bar.

“Have at it.” Carmilla told Laura. Laura pushed up and started to pump her arms all the way down to her chest and back up. She kept going as Carmilla talked,

“I’m guessing this is your first time doing something like this based on what those arms look like. But, anyway, your first lesson will be about temptation, feelings, and how to repress them at the right time. So, right now, you are focusing on pumping up those so-called arm muscles. Now, what if someone were to try and get close to you.” Carmilla stepped closer to Laura’s right side of the bench, so she was looking down at her with those deep black eyes.

She asked in a sultry voice, “What if they tried to use tricks to get you out of focus?” She bent closer to Laura, and smoothed her hand over Laura’s stomach. Laura paused with the bar above her.

“FOCUS.” Carmilla snapped and Laura resumed pumping. “Don’t let people try and get to you. Always have your guard up, even,” Carmilla lifted her leg over Laura’s pelvis so she was straddling her with her arms up Laura's sides. “when someone is tempting you.” Laura began to sweat. “Don’t cave.” Carmilla whispered.

Laura’s insides were tingling. She didn’t know why this was so hard for her. It could have been seeing Carmilla’s physique standing above her or how close they were, but she just couldn’t take it anymore and she dropped the bar onto her chest, letting out a puff of air.

“Aha, you caved.” Carmilla said getting up from hovering over Laura. “It’s like a mental game--all of it. You always have to be the first step ahead and not let anything get to you.”

‘It’s kind of hard when someone like you is doing something like what when I know how well you kiss—WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING LAURA.’

Carmilla stared at Laura, waiting to see what Laura would do next. Laura laid down again and started pumping. “I’ll go easier on you this time.” Promised Carmilla.

She walked around Laura and looked like she was contemplating something. Out of nowhere, Carmilla lunged close and started screaming. Laura almost dropped the bar on top of her.

“Stay focused! Don’t let something steer you from your objective! Not even the screams of people!” And she started screaming again. It was a deafening scream that Laura had hoped she would never have to hear. It cut through her ears like a sharp knife and made her skin crawl. It was tough, but Laura kept pumping. Carmilla started running around her, screaming at different angles and pitches and even grabbing Laura’s legs or arm randomly.

This went on for about five minutes, Carmilla combining her hair-raising screams with the sound of crying and pain and then she said to stop. Laura placed the bar on the rack and sat up, putting her feet on the ground and her hands folding together in her lap.

‘Those screams. How does she do them so well? Is that what you hear when you’re actually out there?’ Laura stared at the concrete floor as Carmilla sat down in front of her gaze.

“Great job today. You can go and get new clothes, food, or rearrange your room now if you so desire.”

“How did you do those screams so… perfectly?” Laura questioned.

“You’ll find out soon.” Carmilla replied as she stood back up and walked over to the door. She swung it open,

“You coming?” she asked. Laura slowly stood up from the bench and swung her leg back over, walking out the door and just stood in the center of the warehouse. She tried to assess what just happened in that room. But she couldn’t figure it out.

That night, the screams of Carmilla replayed in her head so she couldn’t fall asleep. The screams sunk into the shadows surrounding her and got louder when they touched the light of the moon shining into her room. A hard knock on the door startled Laura and she heard in a raspy voice,

“G’night cupcake.” followed by a curling, evil laughter you would only hear from an evil queen, a swig of a beer and a door opening then slamming in the room next to her’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave comments on what you think of the chapter! (What you liked, didn't like, and what I could do better!)


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